


The One That Got Away

by StrangeTechiques



Category: Iron Man - Fandom, MCU, Marvel, Spider-Man - Fandom
Genre: Angst, IronLad - Freeform, M/M, Not so happy ending, but it’s one sided, i never know what to tag, parkner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 02:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19938367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeTechiques/pseuds/StrangeTechiques
Summary: Never planned that one day I'd be losing youIn another life, I would be your manWe’d  keep all our promises, be us against the worldIn another life, I would make you staySo I don't have to say you were the one that got awayThe one that got awayAll this money can't buy me a time machine, noCan't replace you with a million rings, noI should'a told you what you meant to me,Cause now I pay the price





	The One That Got Away

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, another angsty song inspired ship one shot. Today I’ve been on an angst run, and I honestly love the one sided relationship related angst in Parkner. Pretty much, Harley is smitten for Peter, but Peter likes MJ, a lot, so he has to watch as they start dating, and his own heart is just, slowly crushed. Cause who wants to date a gay asshole nobody from Tennesee? 
> 
> Certainly Peter wouldn’t!

Harley wasn’t exactly sure what had happened in full on that whole summer trip that Peter had taken with their class. Being in the grade above them, and in a different sort of class per say, he didn’t attend that trip. Which was fine with him, it left him open time in the lab with Tony to work on things. The main thing that he had been tasked on working on was a suit of armor for himself. Tony had proposed the idea of him becoming a hero known as the Iron Lad, and Harley certainly wasn’t opposed to the idea of joining the hero side of the world. 

Peter was on that side of the world, and a chance to stand besides the brunette sounded like a great idea. When Peter caught wind of the idea, they were pleased with the idea of an Iron Lad - Spider-Man fighting duo. Harley liked that idea, even if he almost missed hearing it the first time that Peter was talking about it to him. He had been preoccupied at that time. He was listening to Peter, yes, but not to their words, to their voice. He was focused on the way Peter expressed himself, the way his expressions changed with the words that they said. He only belatedly heard what Peter was actually talking about when Tony walked in the room, questioning Peter on what got them so excited. 

Harley had only then realized that he had zoned out, blinking a few times and listening to the hurried, but enthusiastic, explanation that Peter was sharing with their mentor. A duo. That was what they were talking about, and as Harley closed his eyes, face directed in another direction for the moment, a soft smile spreading across his lips as he pictured the painting that Peter was describing. 

If you couldn’t tell, even after all this. Harley was well… lovestruck by the man that was Peter Parker, It was incredibly hard for someone to not like Peter even in the smallest bit as you got to know them. Harley still vividly remembered the first time he met Peter. The brunette walking in the room was enough for him to pause, his composure slipping as he watched Peter in what felt like a slow motion almost. A bright smile, cheesy, dorky science shit paired with some jeans, the soft curls in their hair. He knew he was gone the moment he felt that gay panic starting to rise. The beating of his heart in his chest, the rise if heat to his cheeks. 

Harley actually had to excuse himself from the room so he’d be able to compose himself before he was able to introduce himself. He recalled leaving the room in a hurry, leaving a very confused mentor and other intern for a few minutes as he leaned against the wall outside of the lab. A hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating in his chest as he mulled over the mere thought of Peter. 

He got to spend a lot of time with Peter after that first encounter. They spent a lot of time in the lab with Tony, talking about whatever crazy thing that came to their minds. Each conversation was something that Harley found he would be looking forward to and then cherishing afterwards. Peter was just… he didn’t have enough words in his vocabulary to describe how Peter was. A cute dork seemed to do just the job though. They talked a lot, but they hung out a lot too, which meant that he got a lot of the whole Parker action. And needless to say. 

Peter was an idiot. A big one.

But each stupid little thing that Peter did always made him laugh, bringing out a sheepish smile and a rub to the back of their neck on Peter’s end. Harley loved that. Each time, he could feel himself slipping further down that path of love for the other. 

They consumed his thoughts, and he certainly wouldn’t ever admit that it was a constant thought. In almost everything he did. 

The brunette was intoxicating a good way, and Harley easily understood why Tony was so fond of them. He was too. 

Things only got more crazy as he figured out that Peter was the masked hero of New York. it was a complete accident that he found out. It was late at night, Harley was staying up at the compound and Peter still dawned in the suit had dropped by. They had a plan already set, telling May and informing Tony that he was planning on staying at the compound for the night. What Peter hadn’t been expected was for him to be awake in the kitchen fetching a glass of water and watching just as the mask was removed from Peter’s face. Shocking him, and when Peter finally noticed that he was in the room as well, Peter as well.

Harley hadn’t ever seen someone jump into denying action as fast as Peter had. It would’ve been amusing at the moment if he wasn’t tired and still, well in shock. The rest of the night he spent thinking about how, amazing it sounded to have a superhero boyfriend. Peter would be perfect. 

_They were perfect._

Then came the day that Tony moved him up to New York, and enrolled him in Peter’s school, just one grade above them. They had a few overlapping classes, but his favorite would always be lunch. Peter’s friends were nice. Ned was enthusiastic, Peter’s best friend and a fun person to be around. And MJ? He didn’t really have a read on her besides interesting. 

But then the dynamic of the group became to change, Harley could notice. Peter and MJ started to spend a lot more time with each other. Peter started to act all stuttery and flustered around MJ, and she was finally acting, well more comfortable around Peter. Even though it was still pretty awkward to watch. Ned would agree.  
Harley did his best to remain the same, but he couldn’t push aside the ache that started to rise in his chest with every encounter he had with the two of them. Watching them together, hearing a few people’s side comments about how they looked “cute” together. It all started to break him. A tight constricting to his chest, and then a slight void of emptiness. 

Then that science trip came up, and everyone in the little friend group besides himself was going. 

Harley saw Peter off at the airport, managing to pull Peter aside for a moment and into a hug that Peter didn’t think much of, but it held a lot more meaning on his end. He told them to be careful and he’ll be waiting for them once the trip was over. He had something he wanted to tell them. Peter just gave them that smile that made his heart melt as they reassured him that they’d be fine. 

Little did Harley know, but that was the last chance he ever would get to tell Peter how he felt. 

They came back, and the only thing that happened on his end was heartbreak. 

It was the late afternoon, he had intended to go to the airport to see Peter, but he got caught up in something else. He was working hard on a small project of his as his phone buzzed once besides him. Harley thought nothing of it at first, but then it buzzed multiple times in a row, and immediately, he knew it was Peter. No one else texted him like that. 

Sliding over to where his phone was, harley picked it up and turned it on, expecting the messages to be a concerned Peter asking where he was, but what he got wasn’t that.

_P: HEY, I'M NOT DEAD_

_P:ALSO YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED_

_P:I FEEL LIKE IM GONNA BURST_

_H: Are you, alright???_

_P: YEAh but_

_P:Man im embarrassed to even type it out hhhh_

_H:??_

_P:okay well, i liked MJ for a while now_

_P:and it turns out she likes me too  
P:and we kissed and now_

_P:we’re a couple and ims uper happy_

Harley never responded to those messages. It concerned Peter after a while, a few texts over the course of a few days asking if he was alive being sent his way. 

He didn’t even open their messages. The annoying red notification bubble remaining over the messages app on his phone until almost a week later he was invited to come join Peter, MJ and Ned for a hang out at the park. Harley wasn’t sure what compelled him to say yes and actually agree to go. He guessed it was the message Peter sent.

_P: I really wanna see you, please come :(_

And so he did, but Harley regretted it immediately. 

It was a nice day outside, but he had a hard time enjoying it as he trailed behind the trio of friends in front of him. He had his head tucked a little, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans as he was forced to listen to Peter rambling happily about their trip and him and MJ, forced to see their hand intertwined with MJ’s everytime he decided to glance over towards Peter. He didn’t listen to the chimes of their voice like he used to, didn’t watch for their little expressive movements, he tuned them out. 

He was aching, badly. His chest clenched too much in only what he could consider real heartbreak. It hurt, a lot, and Harley could only reason with the fact that life really liked to throw him down into the ditch. 

It really did, and it hurt. His chest tightened, eyes stung in the way he hated. 

\---

They had been walking for a while now, and Peter had just finished talking about one of the crazy things he saw on the trip. Ned and MJ had been putting in their input on the story, fixing details that he missed. Though he found it odd that Harley hadn’t said anything. They always had some snarky remark or chuckle when he talked about things like that. Thinking of the blond mechanic made a distant thought, or more so memory come into mind. It was the day he left for Europe and Harley had just let go of the hug.

_“Oh Peter-” Harley had grabbed hold of their wrist lightly, tugging them back lightly over to him. “I have something I want to tell you when you get back alright?”_

Peter stopped walking when he recalled that memory. “Hey Harley.” he started. “What was the thing that you wanted to tell me when I got back?” He turned around as did Ned and MJ, but the blond wasn’t anywhere in sight. The park was relatively empty, though there was no sign of Harley anywhere.


End file.
